Friday, April 25, 2008

Frank Sinatra, the Actor

So you know the question that goes something like this: If you could be anyone else in the world, who would it be? Well if you limited it to musicians, my choice would be Frank Sinatra, any day of the week, without a second thought. In terms of his music, in terms of his legacy, in terms of his appreciation of life and living it to the fullest, no one beat Frank. No one.

Long before Elvis hit the big screen, Sinatra was doing films for Hollywood. Starting in 1941 with an uncredited appearance as part of Tommy Dorsey's band in the film Las Vegas Nights (quiet appropriate really when one thinks about how he later came to dominate Sin City), then in 1943 his first credited role playing a character named Frank in Higher and Higher, Sinatra appeared in dozens and dozens of movies over the course of about 30 years, and then later in life, television shows (including Magnum P.I. for those of you who might remember Tom Selleck and the bright red Ferrari). For many of the films, Sinatra not only acted, but also recorded theme songs and other tracks that appeared in the movies.

And now, getting to today's post's point, Capitol Records has put together a collection of twenty tracks from various films in which he appeared. Some are quite well known and are some of Frank's signature songs (Chicago, The Lady Is A Tramp, (Love Is) The Tender Trap, and All the Way to name a few), and some might not be familiar to those who've only heard his greatest hits collections.

Somewhat coinciding with the album's release this month, in May the post office will be releasing a commemorative stamp, and throughout May Turner Classic Movies will be playing more than thirty of his films and four of his television specials. So while you're waiting to catch all of his movies that you missed (I know you've seen The Cannonball Run already), enjoy the following tracks, and check out the album.